On January 2, 2008, 13 persons were executed by hanging in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Among the persons executed was Mrs. Raheleh Zamani, mother of two young children, who had been sentenced to death following conviction for murdering her husband during a conjugal dispute. Ms Zamani was hanged in a collective execution in the Evin prison in Tehran, alongside seven men also convicted of murder. 3 men convicted of drug trafficking were hanged on the same day in the city of Qom, and 2 others in the city of Zahedan.
FIDH and LDDHI remind the Iranian authorities that the United Nations Commission on Human Rights repeatedly urged all States that still maintain the death penalty "to exclude pregnant women and mothers with dependent infants from capital punishment". Furthermore, FIDH and LDDHI remain deeply concerned that Iran’s discriminatory laws contribute to exacerbating violence.
Since January 2007, more than 310 persons were executed, representing a significant increase on the previous year. At a time when the international community has committed itself to decreasing use of the death penalty, with the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly, on December 18, 2007, of a resolution calling for a global moratorium on the death penalty, the Islamic Republic of Iran is increasing executions and continues to apply the death penalty in conditions that blatantly violate international human rights standards.
FIDH and LDDHI strongly urge the Islamic Republic of Iran to immediately reverse the current trend and to put an end to the use of death penalty. FIDH and LDDHI also urge the Iranian authorities to bring legislation into conformity with international human rights standards on women’s rights, by reforming all discriminatory provisions.